By Deemah Pulak

Senior Bacell Elashyi squeezed his eyes shut as a needle plunged into his vein and blood started to rush into a closed plastic bag beside him. Hosted by the Health Science Magnet, the fall blood drive allowed students to donate blood to those in need in conjunction with Carter BloodCare.

“The blood drive gives students the opportunity to perform a great public service,” said health science teacher Becky Saba. “It can save many lives and helps people.”

To donate blood, students have to weigh more than 110 pounds, have a healthy hemoglobin count, and parent permission if they are under 18. In the past, the minimum age to donate was 17. However, this year, students as young as 16 had the chance to donate blood.

“It’s kind of concept of the more the merrier,” senior Elshaddai Belly said. “The more people who help donate blood allows more healthy people. It’s a good opportunity for students to help other people, even people who they don’t know.”

Students like junior Miranda Gavitt are glad that they are eligible to be able to donate blood.

“I’m really happy I get to donate blood this year,” Gavitt said. “My blood is healthy, and there are people out there who don’t have healthy blood so I might as well donate. I felt pretty confident. There was this blood drive at my church the other day, and they didn’t know about enforcing the fact that 16-year-olds could give blood, so I couldn’t donate. I felt disappointed, so I feel like it’s great that this school is giving us the chance to feel included because there’s a lot of us who want it.”

Some students were nervous about having their blood drawn for the first time.

“I do this to save lives,” senior Madni Polani said. “This is my first time I’ve donated my blood somewhere. To be honest, I was kind of nervous because people have been passing out. I felt more energetic after they finished taking my blood because I realized that I was saving a life out there.”

Students had the option to donate one pint of whole blood or a double red cell donation which extracts red blood cells from the blood. One pint of blood can save three lives.

“I didn’t feel nervous,” Elashyi said. “I felt normal because I knew I was doing the right thing.”

The blood drive is hosted by the Health Science Magnet twice a year, once during the fall, and another during the spring. Trained phlebotomists like Sarah Harris from Carter BloodCare provided students the service of drawing blood.

“I really enjoy my job,” Harris said. “I’ve always wanted to do something where I wanted to help people and this is really the best way for me to do it. There’s people all over the place who are in need of blood. I think that it’s awesome that students are given the chance to do this because teenagers are so much healthier than a lot of the adult donors we get at our center. The blood is a lot better from younger people.”

Harris said having the Carter BloodCare drive gives students the opportunity to donate blood to those who don’t have the chance to donate elsewhere.

“When you come to hospitals or businesses, students don’t have time to donate, so doing this at a school really gives students a chance to help out the community,” Harris said. “Also, students are more eager to donate.”